THE
GOLDEN RULE POSTER

Multi-faith
Sacred Writings and Symbols

from
13 Traditions

By
Leslie Gabriel Mezei

May
2002 Spiritan Missionary News

On
the morning of September 11th 2001 I was driving north from
Toronto
to
Tottenham
,
Ontario
to interview Paul McKenna about the colourful Golden Rule Poster he
created, with sacred writings from 13 faith traditions, representing the
overwhelming majority of the world’s peoples and cultures. As the
horrible news came blaring from the radio, at first I thought it must be a
hoax, like the 1938 Orson Wells’ Martian invasion broadcast. Then I
asked myself, “How can human beings become so desperate and full of hate
to sacrifice thousands of innocent civilians?” This is supposed to be an
age of increasing acceptance of diversity, of interfaith dialogue.
Obviously, we haven’t universally applied the millennia-old Golden Rule,
which urges us to treat everyone in our human family generously, even our
enemy.

Then
my roots as a survivor of the Holocaust of World War II came back to me,
and the Cuban missile crisis of 40 years ago, when we last thought that
our world might come to an end. Now, here was a forceful reminder that we
in
North America
are not isolated from the ongoing conflicts of the rest of the world, that
we must redouble our efforts to bring the message of unity and love to the
whole world. We postponed the interview and Paul McKenna and each of
us said a prayer.

Launch
of the poster

Four
months earlier, as an interfaith minister of the Universal Worship
Service, I participated in the official launch of the Golden Rule
poster. It was held at the Scarboro Missions Society in
Toronto
, a Canadian Catholic missionary community, whose Interfaith Desk produced
this visually striking and profound multi-faith statement.

Paul
McKenna explained that the Golden Rule had become an ongoing passion for
him some twenty years ago, when he first saw it expressed from the point
of view of a number of faith traditions. The idea of a poster came to him
six years ago. It took five years of research that included consultations
with experts in each of the 13 faith groups and with a host of graphic
designers.

Many
of the over 100 people involved in the project were at the launch,
including some of the artists, members of the Interfaith Desk of the
Scarboro Missions and members of Paul’s family. Representatives from
many faith groups recited the sacred writings from the poster. In an
additional demonstration of unity, they recited one another’s sacred
texts.

Paul
McKenna, a life-long committed Catholic, has an MA in Theology from the
University
of
Toronto
, a Master of Divinity from the
University
of
Ottawa
, and some clinical pastoral education and journalism training. He worked
in social service and social justice organizations, until he got the call
to a vocation in interfaith work. For the last 15 years he has functioned
as a full-time freelance writer, educator, organizer, and workshop leader
on topics such as interfaith dialogue, Gandhian nonviolence, humour, and
the Golden Rule. He is a tireless networker, bringing many people together
from varied backgrounds.

I
went back to interview Paul ten days after September 11th.
In an atmosphere of what we felt were spurious claims of religious
motivations for the barbarism of that attack, we were keenly aware of the
urgency for greater understanding among peoples and religions.

The
Golden Rule in Various Faith Traditions

Paul
pointed out that many mistakenly think of the Golden Rule (a name first
applied to it only at the end of the 17th Century) as uniquely Christian: ‘In
everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the
law and the prophets’ (Matthew 7:12). In this statement by
Jesus, we see the contribution of the Old Testament. The Golden Rule is
thus a short-hand summary of the teachings of the Bible. The most quoted
Jewish source expresses the Rule in its opposite form, also as a pithy
condensation. The story goes that Rabbi Hillel in the First Century was
challenged to summarize the teachings of the Law while standing on one
foot. He then stated: ‘What is
hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah,
all the rest is commentary.’

Many
have argued that the Golden Rule can be used in a negative way by selfish,
antisocial and perverse people. And there is much debate about the real
meaning of reciprocity and mutuality. But the context has to be
considered, points out Jeffrey Wattles in his ground-breaking book “The
Golden Rule.” He traces the emergence of the Rule in the
literature of many religions, of numerous philosophers and of humanist
groups throughout the ages.

Jeffrey
Wattles asserts that the Golden Rule has to be read on a high moral plane,
and be connected with the teachings of love, such as Jesus’ exhortation,
‘Love your enemies’
(Luke 6:27). Very early in the Old Testament,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus
19:18) moderated the ‘Eye for eye,
tooth for tooth’ formula, which, interestingly, was
originally intended as a moderating rule to limit vengeance: Only
an eye for an eye, and nothing more—this didn’t prevent the poor from
being hanged for stealing a loaf of bread, until not that long ago.

For
Paul McKenna, “This poster screams self-transcendence. All the sacred
writings are pushing us in that direction. This self-transcendence, I
believe, is the guts of the whole experience of religion and spirituality,
in a healthy way: The surrender to something, or someone, beyond
ourselves. It’s only in self-transcendence that we become fully
ourselves, fully human. What the great teachers across all the traditions
say to us is that we are looking for happiness in all the wrong places. I
think it’s the Buddhists that are clearest on this. To paraphrase them:
‘My search for freedom and meaning and happiness has everything to do
with my commitment to your freedom and your happiness and your meaning’.
The Buddhists also say simply: ‘Consider
others thyself.’ We’ve got to move beyond ourselves
as individuals and act generously out of our oneness, our
interconnectedness. ”

Native
spirituality teaches that brotherhood and sisterhood extends beyond the
human family. After consultation with native leaders, Paul chose for the
poster: ‘We are as much alive as we
keep the earth alive’ (Chief Dan George.) “In this ancient
poetic wisdom, ‘earth’
means you and me and the birds and the moon—everything! Profound
interconnection with moral implications,” Paul adds, “And if you look
at the Unitarian principle on the poster, it says the very same thing in
modern sophisticated language: ‘We
affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of
which we are a part.’ And the Jain selection emphasizes
the teaching of non-violence toward all creatures. ‘One
should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated’
(Mahavira). I think this poster will really move the interfaith
dialogue ahead, because it both symbolizes and inspires unity.“

The
Poster Is a Big Hit

The
Golden Rule poster has been purchased individually and in bulk by schools,
school boards, religious institutions, Sunday schools, penitentiaries,
hospitals, corporate offices, and homes, mainly in
Canada
and the
U.S.
so far. The poster has been used, for example, in an alcohol-recovery
program in
Calgary
,
Alberta
and in a psychiatric institution in
North Bay
,
Ontario
. Jeff Archambeault, the Chaplain of the latter commented, “This poster
just keeps on giving.” The Catholic
Register quoted Grade 11 world religions teacher Joe Wey of Our
Lady of Mt. Carmel School,
Toronto
: “Most of the students had only studied Christianity, so some of them
were surprised to see the similarities. …We teach not just tolerance,
but respect for other
religions.”

A
French-language version is being produced, and translation into other
languages may follow. A TV documentary set in a world religions classroom
was aired Canada-wide by VisionTV last year. Lesson plans are now being
piloted for elementary and high school classes. A study-guide for adult
audiences is available free of charge. The resources include searching
questions, varied exercises, and additional study materials.

People
from different parts of the world have been overwhelmed on first viewing
the poster. The circle of symbols is a visual meditation on our unity. The
rays emanating from the globe tie the symbols together in what amounts to
a ‘coat of arms’ for the interfaith movement. The 22” x 29” colour
poster is visually appealing, pedagogically useful and is the result of
sound scholarship. The 13 writings are acceptable to everybody in both
religious and secular settings. The poster, Paul McKenna discovered, “is
an ingenious tool for doing comparative religion, interfaith dialogue and
world religions education; for exploring ethics, scripture study and
multi-faith prayer; for promoting reflection on social justice,
solidarity, compassion, world peace and global unity.”

Monsignor
Pedro López Quintana of the Secretariat of State in the
Vatican
wrote, “The Holy Father wishes me to express his gratitude for the …
Scarboro Missions’ Golden Rule poster which you sent him.” On January
4th 2002, eight ambassadors from the North American Interfaith Network and
Scarboro Missions presented the Golden Rule poster to Mrs. Gillian
Sorensen, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, where it is
now on permanent display.

Transcending
cultures, nations, and religions, the Golden Rule poster is a fitting
declaration of the yearning of many to eliminate the rhetoric of racial,
cultural and religious bigotry and the practice of violent attack and
retribution. What we need is an ethic of generosity, peace and love in all
interactions among nations, communities and individual members within our whole
human family.

Please
go towww.scarboromissions.ca/Golden_rule/to
find an abundance of resources, including the thirteen sacred texts of the
Golden Rule in a number of languages, detailed guidelines for meditation
exercises, workshops, school curricula, and how to order the poster from a
number of sources.